Travel To Montana

The Museum of the Rockies, affiliated with Montana State University in Bozeman and the Smithsonian Institution, is located in Bozeman, Montana, and is known for its paleontological collections despite dinosaurs not being its sole focus. The museum houses the largest collection of dinosaur remains in the United States and possesses the largest Tyrannosaurus skull ever discovered as well as the thigh bone of a Tyrannosaurus rex that contains soft-tissue remains. The museum is also part of the Montana Dinosaur Trail and is the state’s official repository for paleontological specimens.

The museum’s collection about the physical and cultural history of the Rocky Mountains and the people and animals who have lived there dates back more than 500 million years. Its permanent exhibits include: Enduring Peoples, which chronicles the life of American Indians on the Northern Plains and near the Rocky Mountains; History of the Northern Rocky Mountain Region, whose inhabitants included Native Americans, fur traders, gold seekers, and white settlers from frontier days through World War II; Living History Farm, which includes the Tinsley House where costumed interpreters demonstrate life in a turn-of-the-century home; and the Taylor Planetarium, a 40-ft, 104-seat domed theater.

The Museum of the Rockies exists to preserve and tell the stories of Montana and the Northern Rockies in order to educate visitors about the region’s rich history, which includes but is not limited to its rich paleontological roots. The museum was founded in 1957 due in part to a gift from Caroline McGill and the museum’s collection has grown to 300,000 objects that cover more than 500,000,000 years of history. The museum frequently offers symposiums allowing Native Americans, whose tribes called the region home, to share their stories with visitors. In 2005, the Museum became an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, which provided the museum with greater access to the collections and programs of the Smithsonian.

Traveling exhibits that visit the museum cover topics as diverse as African American art, television and film costumes, the impact of weapons on the cultures of the Rocky Mountains, an exhibit on King Tut that toured internationally.

The Tinsley House, which is preserved by the Museum of the Rockies as a living history museum, is intended to provide an overview of homestead life in the 1800s in theGallatin Valley. The 100 year-old house was originally located in Willow Creek and it was moved to its present site on more than ten acres behind the museum in 1989. The house is made of logs accumulated over the course of two years from the Tobacco Root Mountains and interior items are believed to have been ordered from the Sears catalog. Most items in the house have been donated by Tinsley descendants.

The Tinsleys migrated west during the Civil War in search of a better life. William and Lucy Tinsley (née Nave) met in Virginia City, Montana, where both worked, and after marriage they relocated to the Gallatin Valley. They built their house in 1889 once the original cabin was too small to accommodate their family. At the museum, visitors can learn about the life of the Tinsleys and others who lived at the time. Children try on clothes and play with toys typical of the time. The house includes a functioning outhouse, water pump and kitchen where food typical of the time is sometimes prepared.

The Museum of the Rockies is open year round. Summer hours (June - August) are 8:00 am to 8:00 pm daily. Winter hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday and 12:30 pm to 5:00 pm on Sundays.